Hoyer Urges Republicans to Stay In Town Until They Responsibly Fund the Government

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks today to call on Members to stay in town until the House has completed its work and reached agreement on our nations’ priorities, including responsibly funding the government. Below is a video and transcript of his remarks:

“Ladies and gentlemen of the House, we are confronting a very serious situation, as all of us know. That is we have not reached agreement to fund government, between now and September 30 of this year. It is now some one-third of the year, the Fiscal Year 2018, that has gone.

“At some point in time – the Majority Leader is not available right now, therefore I’m not asking him to yield because he has something important that he is doing now – but at some point in time, Madam Speaker, I’m hoping that the Majority Leader will come before us and we could have a colloquy on what we intend to do during the course of this day, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps Sunday, perhaps Monday, perhaps Tuesday in order to get the business of the country done.

“I'm urging my Members to be available on very short notice so that they can complete the work of funding our government for Fiscal Year 2018. I hope that all other Members will be available to do so as well. That is our responsibility. We have not yet met that responsibility and, therefore, I want to give notice to my Members that we need to be here. The Senate has not acted. We do not know what they will do. We need to be available for their action.

“I know the Majority Leader suggested that it was okay to leave and go home. I want to make it clear that that is not my view. We have not completed our work. The American public expects us to do that, and I would hope we remain available to complete the work of funding the government between now and Fiscal Year 2018 which ends, of course, on September 30, and I yield back the balance of my time.”